While creating the PBS series African American Lives 2, teams of historians, librarians, and genealogical researchers examined thousands of legal documents, land records, photographs, and letters. The evidence of the past, left behind by those who lived it, can be a valuable tool for understanding the lives and stories of our ancestors and the world in which they lived. The passage of time, however, can prove challenging and destructive to the preservation of items of material culture.

In this lesson, students will develop an understanding of the conditions and circumstances that contribute to successful preservation of documents and artifacts over time. In the Introductory Activity, students will brainstorm ideas for a hypothetical time capsule reflecting the life of a student in your school during the current school year. During the Learning Activity, students will utilize an online interactive and critically view video segments to examine surviving documents and artifacts from the past, and hypothesize on why these items have survived or been preserved. In the Culminating Activity, students will investigate the challenges and obstacles to successful preservation of material culture, and synthesize information gathered throughout the lesson. As an extended culmination, students will create documents describing their lives today for future generations.

This lesson can be used as a pre- or post- viewing activity for the PBS series African American Lives 2, or as an independent lesson for the social studies or language arts classroom.

Grade Level: 6-8

Time Allotment: Three 45-minute class periods (excluding out-of-class work time for the Culminating Activity/Assessment)

Subject Matter: History/Social Studies, Language Arts

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to:

Define and describe "material culture," as it applies to both the past and the present;

Utilize visual and textual cues to develop an understanding of primary source documents and photographs;

Discuss the role of photographs, documents, and artifacts in preserving history;

Describe reasons why some elements of material culture survive for long periods of time, while others do not;

Articulate the challenges and obstacles inherent in preserving material culture for future generations;

Utilize class discussions and activities, as well as interactions with video and Web sites, to develop a plan for a durable record of contemporary life for future generations and descendents.

Standard 1. The student thinks chronologically. Therefore, the student is able to appreciate historical perspectives describing the past on its own terms, through the eyes and experiences of those who were there, as revealed through their literature, diaries, letters, debates, arts, artifacts, and the like.

Standard 3. The student engages in historical analysis and interpretation. Therefore, the student is able to consider multiple perspectives of various peoples in the past by demonstrating their differing motives, beliefs, interests, hopes, and fears.

African American Lives 2: Analyzing the Evidence Interactivityhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/evidence/index.html
In this interactivity, users are presented with a gallery of documents instrumental in researching the ancestry of the featured guests in the PBS series African American Lives 2. By carefully examining these documents, and using online tips and hints, users can unlock important clues about the past.

Time Capsules: Archival Protectionhttp://www.vanderbilt.edu/chronopod/smithsonian.pdf
This .pdf file, created by the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education, provides detailed information and precautions to take when creating time capsules. Requires the Acrobat Reader plug-in, available for free download at www.adobe.com.

Prior to teaching this lesson, bookmark the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer in your classroom, or upload all links to an online bookmarking utility such as www.portaportal.com. Preview all of the Web sites and video segments used in the lesson to make certain that they are appropriate for your students. Click through the "Analyzing the Evidence" interactivity at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/evidence/index.html to familiarize yourself with the primary source documents your students will be examining. Download the Acrobat Reader plug-in from www.adobe.com to the computers in your classroom, so that students can examine the .pdf file from the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education.

Download the video clips used in this lesson onto your computer, or prepare to stream the clips from your classroom.

Make enough copies of the "Time Capsule Inventory" student organizer, the "What They Left Behind" student organizer, and the "Gift to the Future" student organizer for each student in your classroom.

Procure an assortment of obsolete media (described above) for display during the Culminating Activity.

When using media, provide students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites, or other multimedia elements.